Garden ReStart

Kale flowering

Well, spring is in the air here at the Oaktown Oasis and the garden is calling me. :)

We've done some heavy planning and have been thinking through what worked well last year and what...didn't. heh  The blog has helped there - keeping track of what's what and what we liked about the garden last round.

We want to be able to actually use the items we're growing, to manage the gardens in the front and back, to present something nice in the front garden area and to have something the kids can use and explore. I think our plan is sound so far.

The main thing we want as far as big changes go is to get more dirt into the mix. Deeper beds for the plants to grow in. I think this is what really nailed us last year. We just didn't have the dirt to support proper growth. At least that's what we're assuming based on some tests we did with beans.

We planted beans in both a deep pot and our beds to see what would grow bigger and better. Our veggies were all dwarfs and we didn't know why. Well, the beans in the pot and the beans in the ground both sprouted at the same time, but the ones in the ground stopped growing at speed after about an inch while the potted beans shot up at an alarming rate! They topped out at around 7 feet while the ground beans never got past 5 or 6 inches. Amazing to see.



So, the plan is to combine the two larger beds into one, removing the bricks and rebuilding them into one bed with wood sides. The depth will be somewhere around 13 or 17 inches or so. Not 100% sure yet. We're going to have dirt brought in - a growth mix packed with goodness. We're also going to enlist the building assistance of a friend of ours who went this route last year. We're hoping that this gives us the space to really get some good stuff going. Carrots, onions, kale, chard and some other items we're going to be able to put to use for sure. We'll reuse some of the brinks in the center to create a walkway snaking path through the center of the bed for access.

I also want to get more strawberries going, so I'm going with the strawberry gutter idea I saw, planting the berries in gutters mounted on the side of the deck. This will allow us to block them off from squirrels and have them hang down so they don't go to mush on the ground.

There's a great "How Too" here:
http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/how-to-grow-food-in-a-greenhouse-planting-strawberries-in-gutters/    Seems rather simple. I think we'll try to find used gutters, but we'll see - I want them free from hazards like bad paint.

Two rows of strawberries on the sunny side of the patio area.

We had a fantastic area with big, bushy flowering plants on the side of the lawn, but the broken sprinkler we had stopped us from using the timed sprinklers. (Well, that and the drought!) So, they died out a bit and never really came back to full. They used to block the fence and be filled with lovely, red flowers. Now, they are host to angry wild roses and a few flowers here and there. So, I'm going to take one group out for more planting area. Maybe even a Fairy Garden for my daughter to work with a small seat and some accent pieces. I mentioned it yesterday and she was so excited by the idea that she almost jumped out of her seat. :)

The area by our shed will be upgraded as well with another higher set box and some shed side stabilization. This will be our Black Krim area - tripping the plant that we had last year.

I'd like to build a planted area like the one I saw as well. I'd keep this side high to allow for the tomatoes to grow, then I might do another on the right side of the shed door with more boxes. We'll see - this might be a PHASE TWO for next year, though...if I'm already building things....why not?

The front yard is a wild place right now. However, I think we can get it looking managed and tamed with a little work. Our neighbors pay folks to come in and manage their yards, but we don't want to spend that kind of cash on that. I'm fine putting the time and effort in. What better way to enjoy ones home!? :)  (And...if we're paying anyone to do things like this, we'd rather pay someone to come and clean the INSIDE of our place! heheheh)  So, what I want to do is a little plant management.

• We're going to plant Salvia in the front - nice purple plants that can fill in some of our dead spaces.
• I'm going to finish running out drip tubes to make watering easier and more efficient.
• The plants that are there currently will be manicured and trimmed - keeping them less wild looking.
• The "grass" in the very front will eventually be torn out with the stones that are there at the moment. I'll lay down more dirt, replace the stones, then place a low water ground cover there to cut back on weeds and maintenance.
• The only other addition will be an herb garden in the front. This will have oregano, thyme, rosemary and maybe some mint. This was a request from Shana and it makes a lot of sense. We had herbs out in the back, but the kitchen is in the front. Walking all the way back, out to the patio and down to the herbs is not as efficient as just walking to the front door and down two steps. The herbs were not used much from the back, but they'll be great in the front. We're also sharing some with a neighbor that lets us snag lemons from her tree, so it will be great for them as well.

I want to make sure we're mixing up the plants in the back and using this COMPANION PLANTING chart I found. I'd also like to break away from the traditional row planting a bit. We have relatives down south who have done it and it's a really nice look - various veggies and flowers growing in lovely patches.  We'll try it out.

Go team NEGIN / JOHNSON!  :)     @}---->------------